A hard magnet may include a seed layer including a first component including at least one of a Pt-group metal, Fe, Mn, Ir, and Co, a cap layer comprising the first component, and a multilayer stack between the seed layer and the cap layer. In some embodiments, the multilayer stack may include a first layer of including the first component and a second component including at least one of a Pt-group metal, Fe, Mn, Ir, and Co, where the second component is different than the first component. The multilayer stack may further include a second layer formed over the first layer and including the second component, and a third layer formed over the second layer and including the first component and the second component.